Chapter 2

Data and Signals

3.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

PERIOD AND FREQUENCY

The power we use at home has a frequency of 60 Hz. The period of this sine wave can be determined as follows:

Note:

Frequency is the rate of change with respect to time. Change in a short span

of time means high frequency. Change over a long span of time means low

frequency.
If a signal does not change at all, its frequency is zero. If a signal changes

instantaneously, its frequency is infinite.

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 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Time and frequency domains

Figure 3.7 The time-domain and

frequency-domain plots of a sine wave

3.3
 Example 3.6

A sine wave is offset 1/6 cycle with respect to time 0. What is its phase in degrees and radians?

Solution

We know that 1 complete cycle is 360°. Therefore, 1/6 cycle is

3.4
 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

The Phase

Phase describes the position of the waveform relative to time 0.

Figure 3.5 Three sine waves with the same

amplitude and frequency, but different phases

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 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Wavelength


Wavelength is the distance a simple signal (sine wave) can travel in one period.

Wavelength=Propagation speed x Period

= Propagation speed / Frequency

Figure 3.6 Wavelength and period

 -6
The wavelength is normally measured in micrometers (microns,10 )

 14
Example, the wavelength of red light (frequency=4x10 ) in air is:
8 14 -6
λ=c/f=(3x10 )/(4x10 ) =0.75x10 m=0.75μm

3.6
 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Time and frequency domains

Figure 3.8 The time domain and frequency domain of three sine waves

An analog signal is best represented in the frequency domain. A

complete sine wave in the time domain can be represented by one

3.7 single spike in the frequency domain

 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Composite signals
• A single-frequency sine wave is not useful in data communications; we need to change one or more of its characteristics

to make it useful.

• In data communications we need to send a composite signal, a signal made of many simple sine waves.

• According to Fourier analysis, Any composite signal is a sum of a set of sine waves of different frequencies, phases and

amplitudes.

s(t)=A1 sin(2f1t+1)+A2 sin(2f2t+2)+A3 sin(2f3t+3)+…

3.8
 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Composite signals

The square wave of the Fig. below (with peak amplitude A and frequency f) can be represented using Fourier analysis as:


s(t)= (4A/) sin 2ft+ (4A/3) sin[2(3f)t]+ (4A/5) sin[2(5f)t]+…


We have a series of sine waves with frequencies f,3f,5f,7f,… and amplitudes 4A/ , 4A/3, 4A/5, 4A/7,…


The term with frequency f is dominant and is called the fundamental frequency. The term with frequency 3f is called the

third harmonic, the term with frequency 5f is the fifth harmonic, and so on.


To recreate the complete square wave signal requires all odd harmonics up to infinity.!!!!!!!!!!!

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 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Composite signals

Frequency spectrum comparison of the Square wave

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 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth

The bandwidth of a composite signal is the difference between the highest and the lowest frequencies contained in that signal.


The description of a signal using the frequency domain and containing all its components is called the frequency spectrum.


A medium (cable or air) may pass some frequencies and may weaken others. To maintain the integrity of the signal, the medium needs

to pass every frequency (and also preserve the amplitude and phase). However, no transmission medium is perfect.


The range of frequencies that a medium can pass (Maximum frequency-Minimum frequency) is called the bandwidth of the

medium

If the bandwidth of a medium does not match the bandwidth of a signal (Maximum frequency of the signal-Minimum frequency of the
signal), some of the frequencies are lost.

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 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth


Passing a square wave through a medium will always deform the signal.

Figure : Signal corruption


Voice normally has a spectrum of 300 to 3300 Hz (a bandwidth of 3000 Hz). If we use a transmission line with a
bandwidth of 1000 (between 1500 and 2500), the voice may not be recognizable

3.12
 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth

Note:

The bandwidth is a property of a medium: It is the difference between the highest

and the lowest frequencies that the medium can satisfactorily pass.

We use the term bandwidth to refer to the property of a medium (bandwidth of a

medium) or the width of the frequency spectrum of a signal (bandwidth of a signal)

3.13
 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth

Example: If a periodic signal is decomposed into five sine waves with frequencies of 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz, what is its bandwidth?

Draw the spectrum, assuming all components have a maximum amplitude of 10V.

Solution: Let fh be the highest frequency, fl the lowest frequency, and B the bandwidth. Then

The spectrum has only five spikes, at 100, 300, 500, 700, and 900 Hz

3.14
 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth

Example: A periodic signal has a bandwidth of 20 Hz. The highest frequency is 60 Hz. What is the lowest frequency? Draw the spectrum if

the signal contains all frequencies of the same amplitude.

Solution:

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 3-2 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS

Frequency Spectrum and Bandwidth

Example: A nonperiodic composite signal has a bandwidth of 200 kHz, with a middle frequency of 140 kHz and peak amplitude of 20 V.

The two extreme frequencies have an amplitude of 0. Draw the frequency domain of the signal.

3.16
 3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS


Most digital signals are aperiodic, and thus period or frequency is not appropriate.

Two new terms-bit interval (instead of period) and bit rate (instead of frequency)- are used to describe digital signals.

Bit interval is the time required to send one single bit.

The bit rate is the number of bit intervals per second, i.e., the number of bits sent in one second. This is expressed as bps.

A digital signal with all its sudden changes, is actually a composite signal having an infinite number of frequencies.

Figure; Bit rate and

bit interval

3.17
 3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS

In addition to being represented by an analog signal, information can also be represented by a digital signal. For example, a 1 can be encoded

as a positive voltage and a 0 as zero voltage. A digital signal can have more than two levels. In this case, we can send more than 1 bit for each

level.

Figure 3.16 Two digital signals: one with two

signal levels and the other with four signal levels

3.18
 3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS

Example: A digital signal has a bit rate of 2000 bps. What is the duration of each bit (bit

interval)

Solution: The bit interval is the inverse of the bit rate.

Bit interval = 1/ 2000 s = 0.000500 s

6
Example: A =
digital signal
0.000500 has
x 10 meight ms How many bits are needed per level? We
levels.
s = 500

calculate the number of bits from the formula

Solution:

Each signal level is represented by 3 bits.

Example: A digital signal has nine levels. How many bits are needed per

level????????
3.19
 3-3 DIGITAL SIGNALS

Note:

A digital signal is a composite signal with an infinite bandwidth.

The bit rate and the bandwidth are proportional to each other.

3.20
 3-4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

Signals travel through transmission media, which are not perfect. The imperfection causes signal

impairment. This means that the signal at the beginning of the medium is not the same as the signal at

the end of the medium. What is sent is not what is received. Three causes of impairment are :

• ATTENUATION

• DISTORTION

• NOISE

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 3-4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

DISTORTION means that the signal changes its form or shape. It occurs on a composite signal made of

different frequencies.


Each signal component has its own propagation speed and therefore its own delay in arriving at the

final destination.

Figure 3.28 Distortion

3.22
 3-4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

ATTENUATION of a signal means loss of energy through resistance of the medium. Amplifiers are used to compensate for this loss.


The decibel(dB) measures the relative strengths of two signals or a signal at two different points.

dB=10log10 (P2/P1)

where P1 and P2 are the powers of the signal at points 1 and 2 respectively.

 dB is negative if a signal is attenuated and positive if the signal is amplified.

Figure 3.26 Attenuation

3.23
 3-4 TRANSMISSION IMPAIRMENT

Noise

The presence of noise can corrupt one or more bits. If the data rate increased, the bit becomes shorter and more bits will be affected by a given pattern of

noise


Several types of noise such as thermal noise, induced noise, crosstalk, and impulse noise may corrupt the signal.


Thermal noise is the random motion of electrons in a wire which creates an extra signal not originally sent by the transmitter.


Induced noise comes from sources such as motors and appliances


Crosstalk is the effect of one wire on the other.


Impulse noise is a spike (a signal with high energy in a very short period of time) that comes from power lines, lightning and so on.

3.24 Figure 3.29 Noise

 3-5 PERFORMANCE

One important issue in networking is the performance of the network—how good is it?


In networking, we use the term bandwidth in two contexts:-


The first, bandwidth in hertz, refers to the range of frequencies in a composite signal or the range of

frequencies that a channel can pass.


The second, bandwidth in bits per second, refers to the speed of bit transmission in a channel or link.


Meanwhile, throughput is the measurement of how fast data can pass through an entity (such as a point or a

network).

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 3-5 PERFORMANCE

Example: A network with bandwidth of 10 Mbps can pass only an average of 12,000 frames per minute with each frame carrying an average

of 10,000 bits. What is the throughput of this network?

Solution

We can calculate the throughput as

The throughput is almost one-fifth of the bandwidth in this case.

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 3-5 PERFORMANCE


Propagation speed measures the distance a signal can travel through a medium in one second. This depends on the medium and

the frequency. Light is propagated in a vacuum with a speed of3*108 m/s. It is lower in air and much lower in a cable.


Propagation time measures the time required for a signal (or a bit) to travel from one point in the medium to another.


Delay (latency) defines how long it takes for an entire message to completely arrive at the destination from the time the first bit

is sent out from source.


In other words, delay consisted of propagation time, transmission time, queuing time and processing delay are added together.


N’

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 3-5 PERFORMANCE

Example: What is the propagation time if the distance between the two points is 12,000 km? Assume the propagation speed to be 2.4 ×

10^8 m/s in cable.

Solution

We can calculate the propagation time as

The example shows that a bit can go over the Atlantic Ocean in only 50 ms if there is a direct cable between the source and the

destination.

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 3-5 PERFORMANCE

Example: What are the propagation time and the transmission time for a 2.5-kbyte message (an e-mail) if the bandwidth of the network is 1

Gbps? Assume that the distance between the sender and the receiver is 12,000 km and that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.

Solution

Propagation time = Distance/Propagation

Transmission time = Message Size/ Bandwidth

Note that in this case, because the message is short and the bandwidth is high, the dominant factor is the propagation time, not the

transmission time. The transmission time can be ignored.

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 3-5 PERFORMANCE

Example: What are the propagation time and the transmission time for a 5-Mbyte message (an image) if the bandwidth of the network is 1

Mbps? Assume that the distance between the sender and the receiver is 12,000 km and that light travels at 2.4 × 108 m/s.

Solution

Propagation time = Distance/Propagation

Transmission time = Message Size/ Bandwidth

Note that in this case, because the message is very long and the bandwidth is not very high, the dominant factor is the transmission time,

not the propagation time. The propagation time can be ignored.

3.30